Legal help for minors

People sometimes say you have to put your money where your mouth is. An example of this is what Gov. Brown and the state Senate intend to do, allocate $3 million to provide legal help to minors who recently crossed the border.

The proposal basically allocates these funds from the general budget to legal nonprofits, so they can represent minors when they appear before immigration judges to argue their cases to stay here because of violence in their countries.

The recent arrival of tens of thousands of children and youths to the border has created an unusual and absurd situation: minors as young as 10 are having to defend themselves against a prosecutor during deportation proceedings, which are tough to understand even for an adult. In these cases, unlike in the judicial system, it is not mandatory to provide legal representation to the detainee.

As a result, an army of pro-bono lawyers who are donating their time started advising minors in the tough mission of proving to a judge that their lives are at risk if they get deported to their country.

These lawyers cannot cope with the fast-track process that the Obama administration imposed, given the large amount of cases in a court system that already faces major delays.

There are some who would rather see the funds allocated to other purposes. They do not understand that having children face a legal proceeding alone, without an adult guiding them, is a legal aberration. That it is unworthy of a society that prides itself in being sensitive toward children and valuing youth. Neither their immigration status in the U.S. nor the reasons that led them to flee their country make them adults, so they should not be treated as such or even worse than grown-ups.

The funds to provide legal representation to these minors are some of the most necessary and valuable assistance that can be given to these kids who face deportation.